The Diversity of Invertebrates in West Wales

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We share our world with an abundance of fascinating creatures, but the smallest of these are often overlooked. Learn about the amazing diversity of the invertebrate world, practice your identification skills with tips from an expert tutor, and marvel at the amazing life cycles of woodlice, millipedes, spiders, mollusc, earthworms and insects.

This course is run at CAT by Aberystwyth University. Please book the course through Aberystwyth University on 01970 621 580 before booking accommodation at CAT.

What you will learn

Discover the wide range of invertebrate animals that can be found in west Wales.

The focus is on practical methods of capturing, handling and identifying specimens found in various habitats around CAT.

This will include pit-fall traps for those that crawl, beating and sweep nets for those that fly, and hopefully light trapping for moths and other night fliers.

With the specimens indoors, their amazing diversity, adaptations and life cycles will be revealed with the aid of microscopes, identification keys and, of course, help from the tutor.

Techniques essential for carrying out surveys that form the basis of management plans for their conservation are also covered.

A wider range of organisms are covered when compared with the entomology course (insects only), including: woodlice, millipedes, spiders, mollusc, earthworms and insects. As a consequence this course is less weather dependant, and you can choose to select a focus group.